Sympathy Cards

I think sympathy cards are the hardest card to make.  I think it would be smart to have some made ahead of time so you don't have to be creative when you are feeling sad for your friends and family who have lost a loved one.

I had bought this beautiful sheet of patterned floral paper with a matching piece of card stock.  When I saw the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches it fit in with my two papers.

I die cut the two layers so they have a more finished look.  I stamped my sentiment on vellum and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The sentiment strip will be adjusted on each card front so the best of the floral design shows through.  I have four cards ready to be finished.

I am also making cards for two baskets for charity auctions and I will use two of my cards for these baskets.  It is an easy way to help out charities by doing something we love and something we know we have ample supplies for.  I am not great at doing multiples but I could do three or four of the same card - maybe - maybe not.  We will see.  Cards as easy as this one would be easy to duplicate.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday

The worse thing in the world to have to make is a sympathy card.

On this card I used some Authentique paper and a favorite Penny Black stamp.  The sentiment is a sticker from SRM Stickers.

Remember to show some love to your old supplies.  They still make beautiful projects.

Oldie Moldie Monday

I have been missing in action but hope now to get back on track and post more often again.  I needed to make a sympathy card.  A friend's son passed away.  My go to stamps for sympathy cards when a males has passed away is trees.  I chose to you a Basic Grey 6 x 6 pad called Basic Black Dress - it is amazing how nice a masculine card can be made with this paper.

The tree and sentiment were stamped in Versamark and I used Zing brown embossing powder.  The tree stamp is from Penny Black and the sentiment stamp is from Stampabilities.

I am entering this into the weekly challenge at Addicted to Stamps where this week's challenge is Anything Goes.  

Remember to show some love for your old supplies - they still make great projects.  

Penny Black Poppy Stamp

I am trying to make some sympathy cards so I have them on hand.  They are so hard to make when you need them.

This Penny Black stamp was stamped with a light distress ink.  I colored it with gelatos - I think - I know I used a water color technique to color the flower.  I did the coloring a couple weeks ago so I don't remember exactly what I did.  It was hard to make it into a card once I got it colored.  I added a light watercolor background with a few splatters of color.  Which was a result of accidently getting some splatters on the background so then you had to have more.  I added a piece of patterned paper (just a peek) on each side and it was mounted onto a gray card base.  A SRM Sticker was added for the sentiment.  I have even finished the inside of the card.

Enjoy your Tuesday.

CAS Sympathy Card

I am combining two challenges for this card.  Addicted to Stamps' weekly challenge is CAS.  CAS on Sunday is a sympathy card.

I find it very hard to make sympathy cards because when you are making the card, it is for someone you care about who has lost a loved one.  I have decided to get a few made for my personal supply or if someone asks me if I have any for sale.

A couple weeks ago I was playing with my distress inks - and making some backgrounds.  You can see a couple of the cards at this link that I made with my background play.  The cards are all very similar.  I had one more background made and it was already stamped.  This was the incentive to finish the card.  Thank you - you don't know how many cards I have sitting around waiting to be finished.

The background was made with distress inks squished on a sheet, sprayed with water and a damp piece of water color paper dipped in it.  I got a fairly even coating with it and did not do anything else to it.  The stamp is from Hero Arts.  This was the floral stamp and then a outline stamp.  I stamped it first in the turquoise ink and then the outline with black ink.  I added a few rhinestones to the center of the flowers to complete them.  I don't have many sympathy stamps so I used a sticker from SRM Stickers.  I had colored some paper to use for the sentiment.  I placed the sticker on the paper.  Cut it out freehand and to cover the edges, I ran the edge of a black copic marker around it to finish the white edges off.  The image is pop dotted on the card front.  I placed the sentiment directly on the image.  I did not want to make it too bulky for mailing.

Thanks for stopping by.  Thanks for helping me get one more unfinished card done.

Keep It Simple and Mash It Up

Doesn't that Title sound like a good idea for dinner.  Hmmm - mashed potatoes and some chicken.  Oops - I digress - we are talking about card making and two different challenges.

I just found another new challenge called Keep It Simple.  Their challenge for the last two weeks is

Turquoise is one of my favorite colors.

The challenge at The Friday Mashup is color wash and a CAS project with minimal layers.

I dug out my distress inks and starting making color wash backgrounds.  I smooshed the ink on my work area and spritzed it with water.  I also spritzed the watercolor paper and then put the water in the distress ink.  On the Sympathy card, I rolled the ink around so that I pooled ink in some of the areas of the paper so it got a darker in some areas.  I really like how it turned out.  The birthday card started the same way but I got a more even color on this panel.  While the panel was still wet, I sprinkled salt on top and let it dry.  Once dry, you brush the salt away.  It gives a great finish to the color washed panel.   I am entering one of my cards in the challenge on Addicted to Rubber Stamps challenge to Make Your Mark - well I made my own color wash paper.  Hope that counts.

I used the same stamp set from Hero Arts on the cards.  The birthday card uses the outline stamp.  I then colored the flower in the distress ink.  When you use the distress ink without water, it gives you a deep rich color on the flowers.  I added some black gems in the center.

I stamped the flower on this card with the stamp that gives you the all over color.  Sorry the proper name escapes my mind.  I matted the image.  On this card I cut the top edge shorter than the back.  I lined the inside of the card with the same color as the mat.  It makes a very pretty card but it is very hard to photograph.  I added clear gems to the center of the flowers.

Both cards have a embossed background (white on white).  All the white in the cards, is recycled cardstock.  The sentiments are SRM Stickers.  I just cut off an edge on each color washed panel to get a strip that matched the cards.

Sorry for the long post.  I actually have one more card with the same color wash and flower stamp.

Thanks for the great challenges.  I am happy I was able to combine them and also I now have a sympathy card for my own supplies and a belated birthday card.  Numerous people could receive this card since I am a little behind on my birthday cards.

The Hardest Card To Make

I believe a sympathy card is so hard to make especially when the person is very dear to you and someone in their family passes away.  You hope that your card will bring them some comfort.

My thoughts are with my friend and her family today as they celebrate the life of their loved one.

Sympathy Card

A co worker's sister passed away so I made a sympathy card from the office.  This is a 5.5 inch square card.  I made it with paper from Authentique.  This is actually the 2nd card I made - I decided the first was too feminine to give to a guy.  Of course, I could save it - but I finish the inside with extra name signing places.

Maybe I will send it to Paper Crafts World Card Making Day contest.  I am thinking about it - I wonder if sympathy cards are one of the categories.

Stampendous and Sympathy Card

OK - I promise this will be my last card I enter in the July challenge at Stampendous - to use citrus colors - yellow, orange, lime.  

The card is made out of watercolor paper.  I cut the paper with a Spellbinder die and used the negative to make the green focal point.  I inked the area with a lime green chalk ink - actually a $1 ink I bought at Michael's.   I then stamped the flower and used Prismacolor Pencils to color the flower.  An SRM Sticker completes the card.  I added a band of orange ribbon at the bottom with a big bow.  The center portion is pop dotted.

It is bright for a sympathy card but I think it turned out beautiful - it was a technique that I have been wanting to try.  What are your thoughts on the color for a sympathy card?

Authentique Paper and Freshly Made Sketches

Once again I needed to make a sympathy card.  I decided to let this beautiful paper by Authentique provide my inspiration and focal point.  I chose to color just a few butterflies and cut them out and adhered on top so they look like they are floating there.  I did use my Stardust pen to add glitter to all the butterflies - just to dress it up a little.  The card is a 5 1/4 inch square.


The design of the card is based on the weekly sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - the idea is to be clean - I never know if I can accomplish that.  I do try though.  

I also used the color challenge from Authentique paper for the month of June.  I do love their paper - it has such beautiful weight - and it is double sided - the back side is always a nice plain color - which is so wonderful to have for stamping or layering.  I used papers from their 6 x 6 pads from two collections - Carefree and Fresh.  

Well I must head to bed - I am tired and my kitchen is a mess.  Potluck at work tomorrow and I tried a new chicken salad recipe - I sure hope it is good.